“Promise Me Something” is an uncompromising story about Reyna, a girl who, separated from her longtime classmates by school redistricting, reluctantly becomes friends with Olive, a brash loner at her new school.

Reyna knows that Olive is a social leper. By associating with Olive, Reyna knows that she’s likely to be branded an oddball as well. But without her pals, Reyna is on her own anyway. As Olive bluntly notes, “You’re the only person in this school who needs a friend as much as I do.”

The promise Olive extracts from Reyna: “Never lie to me.” It is a phrase that Olive bears like a standard. It’s a phrase that Reyna, a less confident adolescent, cannot say truthfully.
As the school year wears on, and Reyna slowly picks up some other friends, Olive increasingly seems like a liability. When some popular girls make overtures to Reyna, she quickly responds. Olive, angry and disappointed, is left in her wake.

And then Reyna hears the news report of a young girl who laid down on a railroad track in front of an oncoming train.

Had Reyna managed to retain her fractious relationship with Olive, would Olive have lived? The answer isn’t clear.